Well good morning, good afternoon and good evening, wherever you are in the world, hello and welcome to the Tuesday 21st August edition of EV News Daily. It’s Martyn Lee here with the news you need to know about electric cars and the move towards sustainable transport.

Thank you to MYEV.com for helping make this show, it’s the first marketplace made specifically for Electric Vehicles. They created this totally free marketplace that simplifies the buying and selling process, and help you learn about EVs along the way too.

UPDATE: CNBC is now teasing the electric supercar I mentioned yesterday with the August 23rd episode of Jay Leno’s Garage. A reminder it’s Jay Leno talking to Tesla design chief Franz von Holzhausen about the new Roadster.

HYUNDAI KONA EV GETS EPA RATING

The EPA has rated the new Hyundai KONA for 258 miles of range on a charge, and an efficiency of 120MPGe.

That beats the estimates some has been putting on the range, and it’s much more in line with what those early YouTube reviews would suggest.

It’s better than the Chevrolet Bolt EV which is almost identical at 119MPGe and 238 miles of range.

As far as I know from all the statements made so far, only the long range 64kWh version will be sold in North America.

HYUNDAI KONA UK DELIVERIES TWO WEEKS AWAY

Here in the UK some news about early deliveries, with this letter sent to early buyers.

“Good Afternoon, Our marketing director would like to gauge interest in a mass vehicle handover event for the first Kona Electric deliveries. We do not usually do events like these for vehicle launches, but given the unusual level of interest in Kona Electric we thought it may be something in which customers would be interested.

The potential location is a renewable energy facility close to Junction 15 on the M4 (near Swindon). For those customers who would like to take part we would ship your cars to that location where they would be already fully prepared for hand-over and fully charged for you to drive away. You would be invited to attend arriving for lunch as our guest before a special event and presentation. This would be followed by a group photo of you and your cars that would be released to the media to announce the first deliveries. The facility is not somewhere that is normally open to the public so it would be a unique opportunity to visit a fascinating and multi-faceted facility. To allow you time to drive home we would aim to be ready for a mass drive-away early in the afternoon. The proposed date is Monday September 10th.”

WATCH MERCEDES-BENZ EQC CONDUCT FINAL HEAT TESTING

InsideEVs has found a video on YouTube of the Mercedes Benz EQC testing in the desert. It’s almost 3 mins long and gives plenty of glimpes into the EQC pre-production model.

It’s more screen time for Michael Keltz the Chief Engineer of EQC. You will recognise Michael from the Fully Charged video.

“The EQC has been tested harder in that way, that we did more tests than on the other cars. We have now done testing for three years, we have driven millions of kilometres, we have driven 90 prototypes, now, additionally, 30 pre-production cars like the car we have now here. We’re actually very close to the series models. One of the hardest tests is in very big heat and then with very dynamic driving. So there we focus on the battery cooling mainly. On the other hand, like on gravel roads, where we’re going actually, we apply a lot of vibrations to the car, so we can really see whether the car can stand these vibrations. I consider this car a game changer.”

The struggle for many car makers is the transition. How do you go from profitable cars today, to profitable EVs tomorrow? One of those ways is plug-in hybrids.

One of those being the BMW iX3 which will be all electric vs the X3 which will be a PHEV.

“Inside sources in Munich say that the base plug-in model will be known as the X3 xDrive30e. It will share a 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbo engine mated to an electric motor with the upcoming 330e sedan. The X3 plug-in will likely be launched as a 2020 model with 275 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque and an electric driving range of 30 miles. This means that if your commute is less than 15 miles, you’ll be able to make it to and from work without having to use a drop of fuel.” according to CarBuzz. The X3 sits in a very popular SUV part of the market and I’d expect that to be crowded space very soon.

“PIF, the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund that Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk has said could help him fund a $72 billion deal to take his electric car maker private, is in talks to invest in aspiring Tesla rival Lucid Motors Inc, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.” according to this Reuters report: “PIF and Lucid Motors have drawn up a term sheet under which PIF could invest more than $1 billion in Lucid Motors and obtain majority ownership, the sources said. PIF’s first investment in Lucid Motors, however, would be for $500 million, and subsequent cash injections would come in two stages that are contingent on Lucid Motors hitting certain production milestones, one of the sources added.”

Simon over at Teslarati has been keeping an eye on the accuracy of the online tracker: “Bloomberg’s production tracker, which has gotten more accurate over the past months (it was only ~2% off its Q2 estimates), now shows that Tesla is pacing to hit a production rate of 6,000 Model 3 weekly. As of writing, the publication’s tracker estimates that Tesla is producing 5,942 Model 3 per week.”

“All new electric vehicles must be fitted with a noise generator from next summer to improve road safety. Says the DfT: “The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe has adopted a technical requirement for electric vehicles to have a noise generator fitted, ensuring pedestrian safety. Standards will be directly applicable to vehicles entering the UK market from 1 July 2019.”

VOLKSWAGEN HQ BLOCKADED BY GREENPEACE IN DIESEL PROTEST

Volkswagen’s UK headquarters was blockaded by Greenpeace campaigners and medics in protest against diesel vehicles. The environmental organisation launched the stunt at the car manufacturer’s office in Milton Keynes at around 7am on Monday. Activists barricaded entrances to the building and set up a mock clinic offering health advice.” reports AOL.com

An estimated 40,000 premature deaths a year in the UK are caused by air pollution, which is linked to health problems such as childhood illnesses, heart disease and dementia.

“Greenpeace is demanding that the firm commits to stopping producing diesel cars and switching to only producing electric models.”

A Volkswagen UK spokesman said: “The Volkswagen Group has launched the most comprehensive electrification initiative in the automotive industry with Roadmap E. This will bring an additional 80 new electric vehicles to the Volkswagen Group model range by 2025. Roadmap E brings a 20 billion euro (£18 billion) investment to electric vehicle technology with the goal of 25% of Volkswagen Group vehicle production comprising electrified vehicles by 2025 and 50% by 2030.”

Do you really need all that electric range? How much range is enough range? What’s your ideal range? And how does that tie into battery charging speed or charging locations?

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